My co-teachers and I designed an ongoing self-assessment document that we share with our students each grading period to guide their reflections on their progress and skill development.

Click on the image to make a copy.

First, students are asked to articulate three S.M.A.R.T. goals they have for the grading period and describe their action plan for achieving these goals. These goals are designed to guide their progress and keep them focused on developing specific soft skills and academic skills over the course of our six week grading period. Too often students become overwhelmed by all of the work teachers assign and lose sight of what they would like to achieve.

The ongoing assessment has a section for soft skills and a section for academic skills. My teaching team places an equal emphasis on evaluating the development of soft skills because our program is project-based. Students work in teams using the design-thinking process, which requires that they communicate, collaborate, solve problems, take risks, and manage their time effectively.

Their ongoing assessment document links to rubrics aligned with each skill so students can read the language of a 1, 2, 3, and 4 to accurately assess where they are regarding their development. In addition to assessing their skills, they must link to work that supports their self-assessment scores and provide a narrative explanation for why they gave themselves a specific score. If they have a question, comment, or request for support, they attach a comment to their narrative explanation and tag one of us so we can follow up with them directly.

To be successful, students need time in class to reflect on their learning. Once a week, I dedicate a station in one of our station rotation lessons to their ongoing assessment documents.

The more students stop to think about their learning and document their progress, the more they focus on developing skills. They begin to advocate for themselves and articulate their needs as learners, which makes it easier for me to provide the necessary support. These ongoing self-assessment documents are also critical to their ability to prepare for our end of the semester grade interviews. If they have not spent time reflecting on their learning, then they cannot make a strong case for why they deserve a particular grade in the class.

Teachers often lament they are short on time. This process of teaching students to set goals and assess their progress as learners takes time, but the payoff is worth it. I love that my conversations with students focus on the development of skills, not the accumulation of points.

12 Responses to Ongoing Self-Assessments: Students Reflect On and Document Their Progress

My teachers are struggling to find a lesson plan template that supports blended learning. Would you have something to share? The Mastery Teaching Model had its place and time, and I think we have moved past it as it stands.

That is a brilliant idea! The concept is well-known, and to not impugn, but I LOVE the intentionality you exude with using this tool! Our students need more than a lecturer and conveyer of information. Students often need a non-parental adult-fan on their side, rather than a condescending half-assed un-caring educator.

Great stuff! In your N.E.W school ongoing self assessment sheet, there is a section marked teacher competency code. What is this and how is it determined? Thank you for all your great information and resources.

The competency code is where we evaluate pieces of student work for specific skills. We put a score between 0-4 to indicate where the student is in his/her journey towards mastering that skill. We use a specific rubric so students can see exactly what a 2 or 3 means. Then in the column to the far right, we add a narrative explanation for the score and highlight strategies for improving.

Absolutely. Thank you for your response. So the student code would be the same scale, and the student is making the assessment? Can you further explain the link to evidence? Is the student responsible for this section relative to their perceived level of mastery? What does the information in this section look like? I hope I am not being ignorant; I am very interested in what you are doing and how you are doing it. I am trying to get a handle on it as thoroughly and quickly as I can, so I can jump in and try it. What you say makes so much sense! I am interested in where to find your rubrics and other resources you use to implement your process. SUCH GOOD STUFF! Thank you for sharing!

Yes, the student code is using the same scale (or rubric). They decide which piece from the week is developing that skill, use the rubric to self-assess their level of mastery, and include evidence of their work (link or image). The information looks like a number and a narrative explanation of 1-3 sentences explaining their self-assessment. I hope that makes sense and is clear!

I am such huge fan of yours!! My shift in grading and assessment practices this year (and the addition of grading conferences) is due, in part, to your ideas and insightful reflections on purposeful shifts in the classroom. This year, I have also made the shift to standards-based grading with my eighth grade language arts classes, but I’m having challenges with the success criteria for learning targets.
Any chance you could share with me a sample of the rubric(s) aligned with the language arts skill(s) that your students use to accurately assess where they are regarding their development. I’ve been struggling to find authentic and accurate resources.

If you visit my post titled “Ongoing Self-Assessments” and click on the image of the assessment form I use, a bunch of my rubrics are linked from that document. You can check out the rubrics I use for both soft skill and academic skills. I hope they are helpful!